Whew. Okay - had to do some pic finding/editing. There's pics/links to pics of the house in the FDK thread.
Here we go
. Thanks again to Kathy
.
Last time:
"Hey, Gramps!" He gave his grandpa a big hug. "For a while, if that's okay. Couple weeks."
"You know you're always welcome here, Clarkie." Gramps kept his arm around Clark's shoulders.
"Thanks."
"But what's this I hear about having a friend stay?"
Clark stared at his hands. "Lois. She's from Smallville. She worked with me on the story. She's a great reporter and is hoping Perry might give her a job."
"If she can keep up with you, she's a shoo-in," Gramps said with a chuckle.
"More like the other way around," Clark told him. "If I can keep up with her, I can keep up with anyone."
*~*2*~*Lois slowly became aware of her surroundings.
Except she had no idea where she was.
She pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around the room. It was nicely decorated. The comforter underneath her was obviously high quality. In fact, the whole room screamed 'money'.
She pushed her hair out of her face, fixing her ponytail before getting up and looking around a bit more. There was a very nice attached bathroom with a huge Jacuzzi tub and slate tile in the shower and granite countertops.
She left the bedroom and went down a few steps to find herself in a large open area. On one side was an opening that looked down into a living area that was currently empty. There were two large circular staircases leading down to the first floor. She thought about exploring the floor she was on – there were a number of doors and hallways calling to her – but she decided to head downstairs instead.
The stairs took her to a large foyer with an elegant entryway on one side and the living room on the other. She had glimpses of both a library and a dining room as well. She heard something and headed to investigate. She didn't see anyone but walked over to the large windows along the other side of the living room.
There was Clark. He was wearing only a pair of shorts as he rested in the sun – one arm flopped over his eyes.
She bit her bottom lip as she watched him. There were few signs of the beating he'd taken only a couple of days earlier. There was one slightly discolored spot on his side below his ribcage, but it was nothing like the fairly angry-looking bruise he'd had a few days earlier.
"You must be Lois."
The voice behind her made her jump. She turned to see a distinguished looking man walking into the living room. She could see the resemblance to Sam Lane. She smiled. "You must be Clark's grandpa."
"That's me." He held out a hand as he neared her. "Nathan Lane, no relation to the actor."
Lois took the offered hand and laughed lightly. "Lois Kent. Of the Smallville Kents. No relation to anyone really."
"It's very nice to meet you. The article you and my grandson wrote was outstanding."
"Thank you. I wish we hadn't nearly gotten killed in the process."
"You look like you took more of the brunt of it than he did."
Lois hesitated. She didn't know if his grandfather knew that he was Kryptonian. What other reason would there be for Clark looking so much better than she did? "Well, he got knocked out pretty quickly," she improvised. "Guess Trask was more scared of him than of me."
"I think that was probably Trask's last mistake. Probably not his first one, but definitely his last."
"I didn't want to, you know." She turned to look at Clark out the window. "He would have killed us. And Clark said he's always been a fast healer."
Nathan chuckled. "Super fast, I guess."
Lois looked back up at him, shock written across her face she was sure.
"You think I don't know who my grandson is?" he asked with a raised brow.
Lois shrugged. "He didn't say anything about anyone but his parents knowing."
"Oh, I don't know officially, but I wouldn't be a man in my position if I didn't know a lot of things unofficially."
"Right," Lois said softly.
"Thank you. On behalf of myself and his parents for saving Clark and on behalf of the world who will never know what you did for them in saving Superman."
"I couldn't do anything else."
"He's falling in love with you. I'm not sure if he realizes it yet, but he is."
Lois didn't say anything but turned her attention back out the window as movement caught her eye. She stifled a sigh as Clark pulled his shirt on before standing up and coming inside.
His eyes lit up when he saw her. "You're up! Are you feeling any better?"
She nodded. "You weren't kidding when you said your grandpa had plenty of room."
Nathan chuckled. "Room, I've got plenty of."
She looked around the room. From where she was standing she could see the balcony where she'd exited her room, the foyer and impressive entry, the kitchen off to one side and a massive stone fireplace covering most of the wall to her side.
"I made most of my money when Sam was in college," he explained, gesturing for her to follow him. He headed towards the kitchen. "I'm still not entirely sure what possessed us to buy this place – or to have it built rather. Jenny and I went from fairly comfortable to extremely wealthy nearly overnight and it kind of went to our heads. One thing we'd always said was that if ever had this kind of money, we'd give lots of it away and we did. I still do. One thing we discovered was that if we were hosting a fundraiser for one of our favorite charities, having a place like this sure helped when it came to convincing people to give. Having a fundraiser someplace like the Metropolis Manor just isn't the same as having it at someone's home. It gives it more of a... personal flair or something." He shrugged. "I don't get it. I give when it's a good cause regardless of where the fundraiser is held, but not everyone feels that way."
Lois' brow had furrowed as he spoke. "The Metropolis Manor?"
"It's an old mansion on The Hill," Clark explained. "It's one of the oldest in that area. Like Boston has Beacon Hill or New York has the Upper East Side and Park Avenue and Chicago has the Gold Coast. Metropolis Manor was turned into an exclusive restaurant and hotel, available only to the elite of the elite. You have to be a member of the Luxor Country Club to even be considered for membership at Metropolis Manor."
"Wow," Lois breathed.
"There are fundraisers held there," Nathan told her, "but not often. I'm a member because it impresses other people." He rolled his eyes. "I don't care so much about impressing them, but it raises more money than I spend on the membership for causes I care a lot about."
"AIDS prevention and treatment in Africa, orphanages in India – especially Mother Teresa's – technology in the classroom in low income communities, open adoptions and options for birthmoms who know their children could have medical complications later in life, scholarships for the arts, scholarships for a lot of different things," Clark told her.
"That's great."
Nathan shrugged. "I would have moved a long time ago – after Jenny died probably – if it hadn't been for the ability to raise money for causes I believe in."
"Don't let him fool you," Clark said leaning against the counter. "He loves it here. Every summer, there's inner city boys, most getting ready to start their senior year, swarming around the place. They're handpicked by Gramps to get to spend a month here. They live over the barn and spend a month working here – they take care of the horses and work on the grounds – all kinds of stuff. They also spend time studying and getting ready for the SAT or ACT which they take in July. For six weeks in July and August, he has younger kids here and it's more of a camp-like atmosphere. They go horseback riding and hiking in the New Troy National Forest. They live in the barn six nights and camp the seventh. And it's free for all of them. There's a ropes course in the woods that different groups use – after school programs and the like."
"Well, I'm glad there's good being done in a house like this, rather than just to impress people." Lois took the bottle of water Nathan offered her.
"Clark'll give you the tour so you don't get lost."
Lois laughed. "Thank you for letting me stay, Mr. Lane."
"Call me Nathan or Nate and any girlfriend of Clark's is welcome here. Well, as long as they're Superman fans." He winked at Lois. "You know he's a friend of Clark's, after all."
With that, he turned and walked off, leaving a gaping Clark behind.
*****
TBC
